The threat level sits higher than usual for a fight week as Prudential Center prepares to host UFC 328.
Thank the vitriol between main event fighters Khamzat Chimaev and Sean Strickland for that. That’ll happen when Chimaev suggests he and his pals would jump Strickland in the hotel lobby, and the Las Vegas resident responds that he could lean on “stand your ground” laws and open fire on his upcoming opponent and his crew.
Added security in the form of several uniformed Morristown (N.J.) police officers has been enlisted to ensure the two do not engage in any unsanctioned violence — be it hand-to-hand or involving weapons — before Chimaev (15-0, 12 finishes) defends his middleweight title for the first time against former champ Strickland (30-7, 16 finishes) on Saturday.
“Let me tell you guys: It’s not the first night where I had security,” the brash Strickland told reporters during Wednesday’s media day. “I think I’ve had a couple fights where I’ve had security. This is probably the highest security.”
To hear Strickland tell it, he and Chimaev can be civil in a room together. The problem, says the 35-year-old who briefly held the title in the fall of 2023, is the threat of the Chechen’s “30-man entourage” attacking him — and the American’s own displeasure with New Jersey’s strict gun laws preventing him from protecting himself with his gun.
Thus, the UFC stepped up its measures to ensure peace is kept before the battle in the cage.
Chimaev alluded to Strickland being housed elsewhere than where the rest of the fighters are staying.
“Some boys said they see him running away from [the] hotel fast after the media [obligations],” Chimaev said Wednesday. “The guy who said, like, he gonna shoot me, gonna do this, that, and I don’t know why he’s staying at other hotels.
“And he was thinking he’s gonna control me, and the guy is not here. We control this guy.“
When Strickland completes his media rounds, for example, officers relay word that the sport’s most unfiltered fighter is on the move, ensuring protection of a man who has made denigrating his Chechen opponent as a “terrorist” as a regular part of media interactions – all delivered with via his trademark gravelly voice and devil-may-care delivery.
For his part, Chimaev seems more amused with Strickland’s unregulated insults threats to pull a firearm in self-defense. But the UFC thought enough of the American’s inflammatory language slung the way of his Muslim foe to take added precautions.
“I don’t think it’s possible [for Strickland to shoot me] because they don’t let me see this guy,” Chimaev, who captured the championship with a one-sided decision victory over Dricus Du Plessis last August, told reporters during a Tuesday media scrum. “So, I don’t know where he is. I’ve been here for three days in the lobby, and the guy said he’s gonna shoot me. Let’s go. Do that. I will be happy to die.”
Other fighters set to compete this weekend have taken note of the extra measures to ensure fight week — and the headlining fight itself — goes off without a hitch.
“I do feel that [there is] a lot more security than usual,” Tatsuro Taira, who will challenge flyweight champion Joshua Van for that championship in Saturday’s co-main event, told reporters Wednesday via an interpreter. “It feels like you’re being a part of a film or something.”
Between now and fight night Saturday, Chimaev and Strickland will only need to share a room on two occasions: Thursday’s press conference and Friday’s staredown at the weigh-ins. How those events go down could be telling to how much the extra security personnel was necessary.
Even with all of the verbal nastiness and concerns of violence beyond the fight itself, Strickland reinforced Wednesday he expects no violence will endanger the fight before the two enter the octagon.
“No, no, of course not, of course not,” Strickland said. “How much money has UFC invested in this? If [there’s] one f–k up, next thing you know, they lose f–king millions of dollars. I think right now, they’re just trying to protect their investment, but I think everything’s fine.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
